Agricultural exchanges between Taiwan and China should be conducted under the framework of the WTO as both sides of the Taiwan Strait are members of the world trade regulatory body, Council of Agriculture officials said yesterday.
The council is not opposed to private agricultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait if the trade or exchanges involve no public authority exercise of power, such as customs tariffs and quarantine, council officials said.
If Taiwan farm products heading to China have to pass through customs tariffs and quarantine, the trade should not be conducted without approval by government offices or prior negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait by government-authorized intermediary bodies such as the Straits Exchange Foundation, the officials said.
Meanwhile, the nation has interacted with China according to WTO regulations and will review China's progress in honoring its market-opening promises next year, Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) officials said yesterday.
The officials were responding to a seven-point consensus on cross-strait relations reached during a meeting between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and representatives of the Cabinet and the Democratic Progressive Party on Tuesday.
The BOFT officials said Taiwan welcomes the opening of the Chinese market to Taiwanese agricultural products according to WTO standards.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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